Alibaba continues pressing into banking with a virtual credit card

In another foray from the Internet giant into high finance, Alibaba recently announced that one million virtual credit cards will be issued next week.

These cards are an initiative with CITIC Bank and the virtual cards will be usable anywhere that CITIC credit cards are accepted online or at offline locations that accept the Alipay Wallet app.

The brilliance of the Alibaba's virtual credit card is not just the fact that it's building on Alibaba's push into finance through Yu'eBao, but the fact that it leverages the applicant's online shopping history on Alipay, Alibaba's online payment system. Using that, Alibaba is able to quickly review credit limits and give users nearly instant responses in terms of both approval and credit limits.